Alberto "Beto" Pérez (born 15 March 1970) is a Colombian dancer, choreographer, businessman, and Zumba instructor. He created the
exercise
Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...
Zumba
Zumba is a fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. It was founded by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001. It currently has 200,000 locations, with 15 million people taking classes weekly, and is locat ...
in the late 1990s which involves
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
and
aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio, is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process. "Aerobic" is defined as "relating to, involving, or requiring oxygen", and refers to the use of ...
elements with accompanying music, specifically
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, and associated
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...
moves, squats, lunges, and other aerobic techniques.
Beginnings
Pérez was raised in
Cali, Colombia
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
, by a single mother and was working three jobs by age 14 to support his family. His passion was dancing, but he could not afford dance lessons. After he won a national
lambada
Lambada () is a dance from the state of Pará in Brazil. The dance briefly became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the Philippines, Latin America and Caribbean, Caribbean countries. It has adopted aspects of dances such as Maxi ...
contest in Colombia, he was accepted to one of Cali's best academies to study dance while he taught
step aerobics
Step aerobics, also known as bench aerobics and step training, is a form of aerobics, aerobic exercise that involves stepping on and off a small platform.
Step aerobics was studied by Physiology, physiologists in the 1980s, and in 1990 it swiftly ...
in return.
Business
In 1999, Pérez moved to
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Florida "in search of the American Dream". Besides teaching aerobics classes, he tried to promote his fitness and dance routines with music at numerous venues. In 2001, Beto asked Williams Island fitness director (Brenda Anderson) to take a chance on promoting his dance routines in a class at the center. In 2003 after his first infomercial and with financial and technical assistance from
Alberto Perlman
Alberto Perlman (born 1977) is a Colombian American businessman and co-founder of Zumba Fitness.Alberto Aghion
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...
, workshops resulted that were based on Zumba routines. His routines, initially distributed as DVDs, gained momentum that resulted in an international following.
In 2006 Pérez established Zumba Fitness LLC, an organization that sells Zumba videos and products and charges licensing fees to its network of instructors (ZIN™ – Zumba Instructors' Network). It employs more than 200 employees. Reportedly some 14 million people in more than 160,000 locations in 185 countries are Zumba practitioners and dance and sing to fun music mainly provided by the company.
Zumba Fitness has also released its fashion line of Zumbawear. The company manufactures Zumbawear for age-specific groups, including seniors, mothers and children. Besides the general Zumba Fitness brand, fashion lines include styles for Zumba Toning, Aqua Zumba, Zumba Sentao, Zumba Gold, Zumba Gold-Toning, Zumba Kids and Zumba Kids Jr, Zumba Step and Strong By Zumba. Its instruction programs are popular in community centers, youth activity centers, tourist venues, schools and retirement communities, among other venues.
Personal life
On the eve of March 15, 2020, his 50th birthday, Pérez announced on his Facebook page that his daughter Antonella had been born on January 11, 2020.
Music
Through his Zumba Fitness routines, Pérez promotes music and musical artists associated with Zumba, which positively affects musical success for artists in various Latin music genres. An
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
article states that the Zumba movement has created an international fan base for Latin music, citing acts including
Pitbull
Pit bull is an umbrella term for several types of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers. In the United States, the term is usually considered to include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American B ...
,
Don Omar
William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1979), known professionally as Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is also known as the " King of Reggaeton" by music critics and fans alike. The ...
and
Daddy Yankee
Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...
. Daddy Yankee's "Limbo" shouts out for Zumba several times in the lyrics. Pitbull, Wyclef Jean and other stars have taken part in Zumba Fitness conventions. Other Zumba fans include
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...
and
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...
.
Zumba Fitness has released a series of music albums including '' Zumba Fitness Dance Party'' with music for Zumba classes worldwide. Pérez has collaborated with the Colombian Latin star Mara (full name
Mara Prada
Mara or MARA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Mara (''Doctor Who''), an evil being in two ''Doctor Who'' serials
* Mara (She-Ra), fictional characters from the ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' and ''The New Advent ...
), with whom he has a hit "Crazy Love" credited to Prada featuring Pérez. Prada, Haitian singer J. Perry and American singer Dahrio Wonder were named Zumba Fitness Emerging Artists. A similar collaboration has developed with the well-established Brazilian star
Claudia Leitte
Cláudia Cristina Leite Inácio (; born 10 July 1980) is a Brazilian singer and television personality. She rose to fame in late 2002 as the lead vocalist of the Axé music group Babado Novo. The group achieved a string of consecutive diamond- ...
Fiesta Buena
"Fiesta Buena" is a 2012 international hit song by DJ Mam's in Spanish and is credited to DJ Mam's featuring Luis Guisao, Soldat Jahman and Beto Perez. The song is written and composed by Mounir Belkhir, Luis Guisao and Soldat Jahman.
"Fiesta Bue ...
DJ Mam's
Morad Mameri better known by his stage name DJ Mam's born in Marseille, France, in 1972 is a Marseille-based French DJ of Algerian descent. He is signed to Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a v ...
that also featured
Luis Guisao
Luis Guisao is a Marseille-based singer who grew up in St Henri, a village neighborhood of mainly Andalusian gypsies near L'Estaque
L'Estaque (; ) is a village in southern France, just west of Marseille. Administratively, it belongs to the commu ...
and
Soldat Jahman
Soldat Jahman also known as Jah-Man or Jahman, (born in 1979) is a French ragga hip hop artistZumba He Zumba Ha
"Zumba He Zumba Ha" is a 2011 international hit song by DJ Mam's in Spanish, French and Antillean Creole